like. hurricane sandy did, the republicans orlowerdefensespendingbut the fact is numbers are what they are. the economy is contracting. layoffs are at far too high a level. if you dig into today's report, in december the holiday period our spending in america went up only .2%. a deteriorating economy, bill. bill: that is paltry. the gdp number, help me understand because they explain the drop-off with cuts to defense spending, right? if that is the case, is it only federal spending that is keeping us going in any direction? >> hold on a second. there is always an excuse. over the past four years whenever the economy has turned sour there has been an excuse. the japanese tsunami. the egyptian arab spring, the europeans, trouble in japan, the republicans, the downgrade, hurricane sandy. drop-off in defense spending. there is always an excuse. the fact is, we have never achieved a robust expansion since the end of the recession. now this latest go round yesterday when the economy showed to be contracting it was blamed on lower defense spending. it was blamed on the hurricane sandy. b

pick to lead our departmentofdefense. whypolitical watchers are saying that chuck hagel's confirmation at this hearing was an absolute mess. so what is going to happen with this? we'll be right back with senator blount. >> iranian foreign ministry so strongly supports your nomination to be the secretary of defense? >> i have a difficult enough time with american politics. senator, i have no idea, but thank you an ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. two. three. my credit card rewards are easy to remember with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. [ both ] 2% back on groceries. [ all ] 3% on gas. no hoops to jump through. i earn more cash back on the things i buy the most. [ woman ] it's as easy as... one! -two. -[ all ] three! [ mal

the right to self-defense, as the court has said, to have guns in their homes to protect their familis. no one can take away those rights or their guns. second amendment rights are the foundation which our discussion rests. they're not at risk. what is at risk are lives. lives are at risk when responsible people fail to stand up for laws that would keep guns out of the hands of those who use them to commit murder, especially mass murders. i ask we focus our discussion on additional statutory measures to better protect our children and all americans. i say this as a parent and as a grandparent. ours is a free society, an open society. we come together today to consider how to become a safer and more secure society. no one begrudges the government assistance provided to victims of mass tragedies made possible by the law we passed after the bombing in oklahoma city. the bill introduced last week against gun trafficking will similarly prove helpful. i believe it will become an accepted part of our crime control frame work. it too is common sense rerecall to. it fills a hole in our

as a result. kt mcfarland, deputy secretaryofdefenseforpresident reagan, fox news analyst today among other things. good morning to you. last night on "60 minutes" we were told what about the state of egypt and how they're doing today? >> the president claimed it is one of the great successes and credited hillary clinton with the great success of the arab spring. i think they will really regret saying those words a year or two from now because i'm not optimistic what happens next in egypt. bill: tell me why we care. this is a big country. tens of millions of people right there in the heart of northern africa and the middle east. >> we care for a couple of reasons but primarily it is because as go egypt so goes the region. egypt is the largest country, the biggest history, the country every other country in the region looks to set the pace. if egypt is being run by the muslim brotherhood, muslim brotherhood which talks about abrogating the peace treaty with israelings talks about still one of their leading people talks about christians and jews as being pigs and descended from ap

states especially with john kerry becoming secretary of state, chuck hagel, secretaryofdefenseandsham elections coming in iran in june, this is an administration that is going to want to engage again in negotiations, think they can get the deal of the century. so unfortunately i think the trend in washington is against i can making a bigger issue of this but i think that is unfortunate. martha: if i were the pastor's wife listening to you it would be hard to be hopeful. what do you think the outcome will be here? >> well, you know, there is at least a trend in iran of fewer executions. there is an instance of people not serving their full terms and being let out. but it may not be until after elections this june. there are things that of course, average americans can do even without their government acting. i mean average americans can write to the iranian mission at the u.n. in new york. people in other governments can press local iranian issues. martha: continued awareness what we're doing here as well and tweeting about it @marthamaccallum. if you have thoughts about this i wo